"They change my life": "smart" glasses are gaining ground

A valuable aid for the visually impaired, a high-tech accessory to immortalize your travels... Smart glasses are becoming more widespread as competition intensifies and AI-powered features multiply.

They are capable of responding instantly to voice commands, recognizing what the user is looking at, taking photos, filming, receiving calls, translating, listening to music through headphones integrated into the temples, etc.

"They change my life constantly!" says Colette Dentelle, 83, who is visually impaired and gets around with a white cane, asking her Ray-Ban Meta glasses to guide her to the bus stop.

"They allow me to get around, to do my shopping, by telling me what is written on the cans and the price" on the labels, she adds.

And, when Mrs. Dentelle loses her keys, her connected device finds them for her thanks to a simple question: "This allows me to remain independent," she concludes.

- Dynamic sales -

According to the firm Omdia, 8.7 million artificial intelligence glasses were sold worldwide in 2025.

And global shipments of connected glasses (without visual display) tripled (+210%) in the first quarter of 2026, according to market research firm Counterpoint.

The American group "Meta has maintained its dominant position", with its Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta models, developed with the world's number one optics company, the Franco-Italian EssilorLuxottica: its market share reached nearly 84% in the quarter, details this analysis published in June.

While the United States remains the world's largest market for smart glasses, competition is accelerating in China (with its manufacturers Xiaomi, Huawei, Rokid) and also in India, two rapidly expanding markets with prices falling sharply.

"Technology is evolving very quickly," like the mobile phone market where new generations follow one another, "so we're taking it easy on orders," reports a Parisian optician, who prefers to source Meta glasses "on demand" from his customers, rather than building up a stock.

- Rodeo, jet skiing and confidentiality -

His latest sales: "an American woman living in Paris who practices rodeo and plans to film herself on horseback." Before her, there was "a film producer and quite a few tourists."

"I sold half of my stock of 10 pairs in a month and a half" this summer, and "if we don't sell optical lenses with them, it amounts to a break-even operation for us," since "we have to match the prices displayed on the manufacturer's website," he points out.

"I would not have paid out of pocket but my health insurance covered the entire amount," which was 500 euros including corrective sunglasses, acknowledges Ayoub Benheddi, a 24-year-old Parisian engineer.

He used the first generation of Ray-Ban Meta sunglasses to "film hands-free" and "post on social media" his travels, his "jet-ski or scooter rides," and his "soccer games with friends"... before one arm broke during a match. That was before the arrival last summer of the Oakley Meta model, better suited to sports.

Other drawbacks: "not exceptional battery life," according to him, and "recording stops automatically after 3 minutes. Perhaps for privacy reasons. But it's a bit of a nuisance."

Furthermore, "when you activate the camera, a light indicator is supposed to light up to warn that it is being filmed. But I know people who deactivate this light. And so, some people allow themselves to record, create content, film people without even their consent," he explains to AFP.

The issue of privacy is widely debated on the Reddit forum.

An internet user confided that he was "seeking to discreetly record" situations "for (his) own safety", "in order to have evidence in case (he) needed to call on a lawyer".

Another person panics at the thought of these glasses being worn "during gynecological consultations." The more convinced retort, "Beware of paranoia."

Faced with this problem, a Nearby Glasses application was recently developed to alert users when smart glasses are nearby.